By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
The shops on the Strand in Galveston were open on Sunday but not as busy as a normal, summer Sunday. People went to church, and to the beach, and people went to the grocery stores and out to eat and ran other errands the Sunday before Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas.
There was a steady stream of cars lined up on 61st street waiting to get onto I-45. The west end of Galveston was under a voluntary evacuation order as of 10:00 a.m.
As I write this article it is the night of Sunday, July 7. I live in Galveston, and we are waiting with uncertainty for Hurricane Beryl to make landfall in Southeast Texas sometime before the sunrises.
Beryl was headed for Matagorda earlier in the day and then it turned slightly and is headed for Eastern Matagorda according to reports from the National Hurricane Center which were posted on the city of Galveston’s Facebook page.
We do not have crystal balls we can not know what tomorrow will hold, but at the time you read this, we will have experienced the impact of Hurricane Beryl as it made landfall in Texas.
What I do know is that CVS boarded up windows across the coastal region starting on Saturday in Corpus Christi.
“We boarded six stores yesterday and got home at 4:30 in the morning then we were back on the road at 9:00 am,” said Marco a crew leader for the maintenance team.
After boarding windows at the store on 61st street they were heading over to the store on Avenue J in Galveston and then up to Texas City, League city and Seabrook.
I also know, Galveston beach patrol was on duty throughout the day on Sunday keeping people off the jetties and allowing those who dared to step into the water to only wade knee-deep. I watched as Christian kept a family from venturing out on a jetty.
The Coast Guard ordered the Port of Galveston to close at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. This I learned via Galveston’s Mayor, Craig Brown at a 3:00 p.m. press conference. Around 12:30 p.m. I had watched as a cruise ship left the port, which was earlier than I am accustomed to seeing the ships leave.
I spoke with a Galveston-Texas City pilot captain who had escorted the last cruise ship out of the port and into the Gulf of Mexico. He reported the swells were already high in the Gulf of Mexico when he transferred from the cruise ship to the pilot boat.
I watched the pilot boat that had dropped off the captain, motor off to its docking place on Pelican Island.
Though the port was closed, the ferry was operating and would continue to operate as long as it remained safe to do so.
The seagulls on the beach had started Sunday off appearing as confused as we humans about the pending storm. By the end of the day, it was hard to spot a seagull on the beaches of Galveston.
At the press conference, Mayor Brown had offered hopes and prayers for those who had already lived through the destruction of Hurricane Beryl and for those who would be in the direct path of the hurricane as it made landfall in Texas.
By the end of the day as I was driving, I noticed cars were parked in the parking lot of Sacred Heart church on Broadway and I wondered to myself why were the cars in the parking lot. Then it dawned on me, the church is on high ground, protected by the seawall.
My car is parked on high ground, and I too hope and pray for the best outcome for all of us as Hurricane Beryl lands on the Southeast coast of Texas. I also pray for those who lived through the destructive forces of Hurricane Beryl as it ravished islands and coastal towns in the Caribbean Sea before it headed for Texas.
Just as I finished my story and was about to edit my photos, my phone sounded it’s warning sound.
“Emergency Alert National Weather Service: A HURRICANE WARNING is in effect for this area”
It is 10:25 p.m. I will edit my photos, submit my work via e-mail, say my prayers and go to sleep.
